I'm really excited for this story, honestly c: It's gonna be fun with all of you amazing people being around o3o You are so special to Kitty, you're all just amazing! Thank you to those who had Reviewed, Followed, Favorited or whatever, it means a lot to me that you take the time to read something I made x3 I really appreciate it. I hope to make you all happy with this story, despite I am not very good with the Game of Thrones story (thank goodness this is only inspired by it?).
This chapter is dedicated to the beautiful, the wonderful, the marvelous and sweet missmaryXDD. She is literally an amazing writer for this type of genre, and I hope I will make her proud by trying hard with this story o-o... She's just amazing; please, go read her stuff and praise her awesomeness.
If you want, please feel free to Review, Follow, Favorite or do nothing; I like making people's day however I can, and I wish for everyone to have a wonderful day!
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Light 'em Up
Chapter Two
Room of Angel- Akira Yamaoka
Sasuke's ring finger was tugged lightly by the red strong that was tied to the digit, catching his attention in his dream as he allowed himself to be guided forward in this abnormal setting. Trees filled with flowers and fruits surrounded him with their branches sticking overhead, letting the bright sunlight stream through the shapes and warm the top of Sasuke's back hair; the string still tugging him to go foward. He has done this in his dreams before, and he was always willing to follow it wherever it took him, since he wouldn't miss it for the world.
Walking into an opening of the small garden, Sasuke's string stopped tugging on his finger, making him realize that he had reached his destination. Looking up, he encountered the other end of the red string; a slender form of a woman in white, tin clothing with a knot on her own ring finger of her left hand. Her tunic-like dress was covering the top of her head, but he could see her pastel-colored hair drooping from the creases of her hood, and her pale chin exposed.
"You're back," he said quietly, plain as he usually speaks. He stepped closer to the female body, the string shrinking its length as he towered over her. "I see you rarely now. Where have you gone?"
She never spoke back, and he understood that for some reason. He likes the serene silence she brings into his dreams for once, since they usually dealt with loud noises and drastic situations that always had him wake up with a headache. It was nice to have this change with her here with him, even if it is always for a little while. This dream he has of this girl.
Raising his hand, his calloused fingers raised her chin to meet those fantasy-like eyes. They looked like two sparkling emeralds or jades he had seen on the Uzumaki's jewelry and crowns; shiny and rare to find, as well as an honor to be in their presence. For Sasuke, he can be a little bit selfish for the first time in his life with this woman.
"You haven't changed, I see," he whispered, his forehead touching her fragile cloth with his inky locks. It looked stained now, but he found it complete. "Not like my other dreams... They confuse me now."
She looked up to him, her eyes curious as his thumb traced her lower lip carefully, making her smile a little bit. He smirked, knowing how to make her change her facial expressions into something better, although she always looks good. Her little hands came up and gripped his wrists, tugging lightly in question.
"My dreams are more dark and...brutal," he confessed in an exhale. "I do not know what it means, but I fear for my kingdom and life as I knew it. Does it ever happen to you?"
She didn't answer his question, instead she observed the red string on his left hand's ring finger, bringing it up to the sunlight with that sweet smile. He sighed softly, an amused smirk on his lips. "Of course. You are not real. You are an angel from God, so you must not dream of such bad things, if you always come here to see me." He laced his fingers through hers, and she brought his hand to her heart.
"I am glad you are back," he confessed quietly when she looked up to him with a sweet glitter in her eyes. His other hand came up to hold her cheek, making her shut her eyes carefullyand tilt her head back. "How lucky am I to have the Lord's subject to care for me in my sleep?"
Suddenly opening her eyes, the young woman twisted her head around to look behind her; her grip on his hand tightened, yet he didn't feel anything. He frowned, knowing this type of body language from her graceful form.
"You have to leave, don't you..."
Facing him again, her eyes looked wet, as if she was straining herself from going away. She bit her lower to keep herself from sobbing and he merely hushed her by petting her cheek under the white hood. "It is alright. You need to go now, and I understand..."
Her eyes widening, she shook her head hard and leaned against him limply, her shoulders shaking as he tried to soothe her by rubbing her spine up and down. A loud crack erupted above his head, making him stiffen and glare up to the sky with an invisible anger written in his black eyes.
Pulling back a little, Sasuke cupped her face and brought it up, their mouths barely touching. "I will wait until next time. Be safe-."
Jerking up, Sasuke sat up in his wooden bunk as he shield the morning sun's light from his face. He groaned darkly, running both of his hands through his untamed hair as he glared at the other occupied bunk from across the room. He saw two pairs of feet and the body above was moving in rhythm of up and down, repeatedly.
"Oi!" Sasuke snarled as he picked up a stray rock that had fallen from the bricked wall. He chucked it at the upper body, making the large mass jerk and yell. "Keep yourself and your whore quiet! I was sleeping here, you worthless mutt!"
"Eh, be patient, Bastard," his bunkmate grunted with a smile plastered on his face. The gruffy man turned his head as he leaned away, making his hired prostitute cry out from imcompletion. "If you want, I will purchase a session specifically for you; she's very good at what she does."
"No," Sasuke gagged.
He chuckled as he stroked his beard. "You are in your adulthood, yet you have never caressed a woman's thigh? What kind of knight for the Prince are you? C'mon, live a little! We're guests for a deadman here."
"Respect the dead Sannin by shutting up and closing her legs," Sasuke growled as he rolled himself off his bunk and grabbed his boots. He slipped them both on and stood to get his leathered armor to throw overhead. "How in the bloody hell did you get a whore inside the Sannin's territory, hm?"
"Don't think that Sannin was a content man, sir," responded his bunk's mistress with a breathy sigh. She flipped her costumer over so she was straddling him, her bare back to Sasuke. "Besides, funrels make good businesses for brothels. Have a wonderful morning!" she giggled once she got the man quivering for mercy, making Sasuke shake his head disgustingly and slamming the wooden door shut.
Tying his armored vest into place, Sasuke made his way up the stoned stairs, passing servants and messenger men, until he encountered the top floor's hallway. He marched himself down professionally, looking ahead and refused any eye contact from anyone who passed by him and gave off a second glance. As an Uzumaki's right-hand-man, Sasuke did not waste time with lower class people unless it was important...
And, as a bastard, not many people would like to speak to him anyhow.
Finding the accurate door, Sasuke ignored the doorguard as he pounded on the door without warning. He waited beside the stilled man until a ragged lady opened the door, her eyes red and puffy from her tears; she allowed Sasuke in and bid herself excused and left with the door closed.
Turning his attention to his best friend standing infront of the stainglass window with his back to him. Sasuke knew that his friend had been like this for the past week, since they got the news of the Sannin's death the minute they discovered his body; Sasuke watched as Naruto fell to his knees in shock, next to his grandfather, clutching his chest when he heard that his heart was ripped out and missing. The Sannin, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was a close family friend to the Uzumaki, and had actually took care of Naruto when the Uzumaki Kingdom was uninhabitable for the young prince when he was a toddler. He was a good man, Sasuke knew, and very respected as a Sannin and King.
Hearing about the death of the King of All Kingdoms, Sasuke supposed it hit Naruto the hardest.
"Naruto, are you ready?" Sasuke asked with a professional voice, his hands behind him as he ventured closer to his friend. "The funrel is said to start by the time the kingdom's church service ends..."
Not answering directly, Naruto breathed and slouched his shoulders. The brightly-colored clothes he wore made him look like the sun, however he was feeling dark and depressed with it all. Nothing outside was happy - and he knew many peasants in Sannin's Kingdom was mourning just as hard as he was, but he was holding it all in.
"It is so hard to believe that he's gone, you know?" Naruto blurted out after a long moment of silence between the two. "He wasn't old enough to die yet!"
Looking out the window with his friend, Sasuke sighed. "It wasn't from old age, Naruto, they explained that-!"
"I know how they explained it!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, making Sasuke lean away from the surprising uprising of his friend. He looked at his right-hand-man, his ocean blue eyes watery with tears. "I know that someone stole his heart, Sasuke! I just can't believe that he's dead! That someone killed him. So, before you start talking to me like I am a mere toddler, remember who's the bastard here!"
Another pregnant pause took over until the Prince realized what he had just said to his best friend. Eyes widening, Naruto's breathed in with worry as Sasuke looked unfazed by it all. "S-Sasuke, I didn't mean... I-I just-!"
"It is okay, Naruto," Sasuke said in his monotoned voice, turning to face his body to the window. "You are depressed and you need to let out your emotions to someone. I understand."
Frowning, Naruto fell onto his rear on his bed in the royal guestroom. "The maid, when she dressed me today...she couldn't hold her tears back. She broke down and begged for mercy from me. I don't understand why she would beg mercy from me?"
"She is struggling, just like you...and everyone else," Sasuke tried to help him, unable to be affectionate like Jiraiya by holding his grandson with the news. "All that matters now, with the King's passing, is the Game."
"There hasn't been a game in over fifty years," Naruto began while looking to the ceiling. "Grandfather told us how it went. Remember?"
"Aa," Sasuke nodded. "Fifty years ago, a war that lasted over a decade ended, and it was all at the fault of the Terumi King who went mad with his power over all the Kingdoms. He enslaved many, killed hundreds and conquered land and waters; the grass was stained red and the deserts were nothing but crushed bones..."
"The war that lasted ten years hurt many Kingdoms, but one last of the great ones rose up to claim the throne," Naruto went on after Sasuke silenced himself. "He went to the Valley of the End, where the dictators slaughtered the Mad Terumi and were fighting for the Throne. Sarutobi Hiruzen and his army marched through the battlefield and took down the other leaders one-by-one as they approached him with anger and hate."
"Once he reached the top of the valley, as the water was dyed red," Sasuke pressed on.
"Saruboti Hiruzen restored peace into the Kingdoms and defined the rules of the Game by writing his will when he gained power," Naruto finished off the story, remember how Jiraiya strained to educate the two kids of how the Mad Terumi figured he would live forever, and there never wrote a will. He recalled how Jiraiya had to ask for mug after mug of alcohol to stress himself through it when Naruto and Sasuke pestered him.
Turning around, Sasuke looked at his friend as the echo of the church bells rumbled through the Kingdom, vibrating the stainglass window. "And now, the next heir to the throne will need to make his move; if Jiraiya-sama is chosen, I am certain he will do his best."
"Bah, Grandfather wouldn't be chosen," Naruto grinned through his watery eyes, making Sasuke smirk very lightly. "Sarutobi-sama would've been teased about playing favorites, Dattebayo!"
Standing up, Naruto squared his shoulders and stood infront of his friend. Sasuke tilted his head with curiosity. Gripping his shoulder, Naruto squeezed his armored shoulder, making sure he could feel it under the thick leather. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier, Sasuke. I didn't mean it."
"I said it's fine." Sasuke leaned away and gestured his hand over to the closed door. "It's time to attend the funrel now. We don't want the other Kingdoms to think that the Prince Uzumaki is a putsy being."
"Nah, it's called being fashionably late, Dattebayo!" the blond man forced a grin as he let himself out of his guestroom, his right-hand-man in tow.
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The funrel was held in the throneroom of the Sannin Castle, where Hiruzen's last moments alive were. His body was placed on a black-stoned table, dressed in the finest clothes he owned, gold stitching and silky fabric hovering over the giant gash in his chest, Hiruzen simply looked like he died a natural death. A masked illusion that can't fool anyone, since it was widely known of how the Sannin actually died.
Naruto was already seated at one end of the large room, watching as the rest of the Kings pass by the corpse to pay their last respect to the old man. He was content when he saw Hiruzen's family members, his friends and council members get up from their chair and get into the line that led to the black table. With Sasuke behind his chair with Jiraiya next seated by the left, Naruto felt a little bit better with himself and mourning with everyone else.
Now sitting to Naruto's right side was Iruka, Hiruzen's very good advisor and another friend of the Uzumaki family. Naruto was taught by him on how to use the sword after his parents' death, and thought of him as an uncle-firgure.
Watching him wipe away a tear, Naruto offered a small smile to Iruka, who sniffed and grinned back. "Forgive me, Prince Naruto. I don't mean to be such a weakling, you see?"
Naruto looked down carefully and nodded. "I will miss him, too, Iruka-sensei," he said quietly. "I am just pleased to see that it's other then Kings saying goodbye to him."
"Well, Hiruzen-sama rebuilt the world after the Mad Terumi," Iruka chuckled meekly as he rubbed his face, his black eyes peering to the next line of people to pay their respects to the dead body, the sunlight luminating upon Hiruzen's pale features, contrasting the dark fabrics of his clothes and sparkling the golden sewing. "He will be missed by all."
"May he rest in peace," Jiraiya spoke, catching both men's attention.
Sasuke looked down and straightened his shoulders. "Amen, sir."
Naruto smiled a little bit and straightened his back to look at the rest of the remaining people inline. He noticed some of them to be servants of Hiruzen, and even the maid who broke down crying stood with her friends to pray to him. Everyone dressed in dark clothes and tanned skin, Naruto reconized all the Kings, Nobles and Councilmen in the room-!
Through the entryway of the throneroom, a woman and her handmaiden stepped in last, catching every eye of a man inside the room whenever a servant of the Sannin hurried out after their blessing. Clad in pure white clothing, the woman looked no older then Naruto, he concluded, with a thin veil with tree branches holding it in place with white flowers embedded into it. Her hair was pink, and her skin pale as milk, her emerald eyes stood out the most from her whole outfit as she took hold of her handmaiden's wrist, gently tugging for her to follow.
The handmaiden was an inch shorter then the woman in white, and her colors were absolutely different from her as well. Her hair dark as the night's sky, the handmaiden was dressed in a simple-wrapped tunic of a matching color to her hair, with silver stitched into the lining. Her skin was equally pale, and her eyes were pupiless pearls lost in white. She looked around the room with great curiosity, as if she has never seen anything like it before as she scurried in her slippers to keep up with her lead. Whenever she stumbled a little, the woman would stop and wait for the handmaiden to collect herself as she smiled at her care, and then resume. While the woman in white resembled a thin, doll-like silk, the handmaiden resembled a goddess walking on land...
And Naruto was lost in the handmaiden's graceful waltz. He couldn't help but keep tempted to keep his eyes only on her as she made her way up the long room to the open table, where the remaining servants bid their farewells.
"Iruka-sensei," Naruto murmured quietly, making sure that no one else heard him, "who are the women who just walked in?"
Iruka followed Naruto's line of sight and looked over the two females who were now at the foot of the stoned-pyre. "I honestly do not know, my Lord. I suppose they come from across the ocean, by the appearance of their clothes and abnormal body features."
When Naruto looked up to his right hand man, he was taken back by the wide eyes of onyx that plastered themselves on Sasuke's face. Naruto looked over his friend's body language, and instantly found it to be that Sasuke was on very high alert, which was out of his character at a gathering of peace.
"Hey, Sasuke-teme," Naruto whispered, briefly bumping his hand on Sasuke's elbow, but posed it to be him readjusting himself. "What's wrong with you?"
"That woman in white..." Sasuke ground out below a whisper, causing Naruto to look up. "She is from a dream of mine. I see the symbols from the dream, Naruto."
Before Naruto could question it, Iruka quickly stood up and strolled over to the two women facing the corpse, their backs to him, as his uncle-figure touched their shoulders for their attention. Iruka spoke softly, and Naruto couldn't hear anything that he was saying as the pink-haired woman looked to her handmaiden, mumbling something with a stoic-like expression and the dark woman simply smiled to Iruka. Naruto concluded that the handmaiden was a translator, since he figured it was common for people across the ocean to now know of the Common Language.
Iruka blinked and slowly bowed in head in apology, gaining a short curtsy from both girls as they turned themselves away and started walking to the opposite side of the room and seat by the Nara Kingdom's ruler, Shikaku, and the handmaiden took her stand behind the woman in white.
Once she sat down, the woman with long, pink hair snapped her eyes to Naruto, green clashing with blue. The Prince stiffened at the sudden contact, and felt caught from watching her from afar; it wasn't until she gave off a slow glance away from him to look at the stained-glass design of the throneroom behind the large object covered in a sheet that Naruto exhaled. He turned his attention to Iruka approaching and raised a questioning brow.
Iruka bowed his head infront of Naruto and Jiraiya, who was also watching the two women carefully. "They knew that Hiruzen-sama's heart was stolen, so the Lady requested to replace it until it could be returned to him in the Afterlife," he spoke as he gestured with his head to Hiruzen, who looked unmoved and untouch by anything with the painted stones on his eyes - until they came contact with his folded hands...
Where a thin branch with a pastel-pink flower blossomed in his limp hold.
Naruto's eyes hardened a bit, swallowing as he nodded in understanding. He was now counting all the ideas that appeared to Sasuke's dream, that he was warning his Prince about. Grimacing, Naruto shut his eyes and tried to calm his breaths, and he could tell that Sasuke was being the same.
"Excuse me, I must announce myself," Iruka bid himself excused to Jiraiya, who nodded with a solemned smile as he strolled away and up the steps.
Once Iruka faced the room, he waited until soldiers of the Sannin closed the grand doors behind them, sealing off noises to break through. Standing tall and professional, Iruka cleared his throat as the silent guests looked at him.
"It was an honor to serve Sarutobi Hiruzen, the first in the Sarutobi Kingdom, father of King Asuma; Father of the Seven Kingdoms and Sannin of Peace, for the past years since I had been positioned after my uncle," Iruka spoke, the room echoing the voice like a cave. Naruto peeked to the woman and handmaiden and witnessed the handmaiden whispering the translations into her mistress's ear. "His death was untimed, and we all pray that the King will rest in peace in the Afterlife; may his soul be with the previous Sannins and feasting with wine and sun...
"As tradition, the Sannin writes a will for the next contestants for the Game," Iruka said next, having a servant come up behind him with a gold platter with a rolled up scroll upon it. Turning around, Iruka took the scroll off of the plate and faced the room again, worry obvious in his features. "It is done by law that the dead Sannin would write the contestants in his will, as it will be placed at his funrel; and all the Kingdoms are present for the announcment. The Kingdoms chosen for the Game will sign the contract infront of the dead, and proceed back to their Kingdoms until the next fullmoon's day."
Swallowing, Iruka's shaking fingers broke the waxed seal of the scroll and let it fall open to the floor, the holders clanging in a horrific echo in the room as everyone became still as statues as Iruka read over the last will of Sarutobi Hiruzen before his eyes grew and his lower lip quivered.
The servant with the platter waited, and when Iruka did not return to talking, he carefully touched his shoulder. "Iruka, sir, is there something wrong..?"
Ignoring the servant, Iruka's dark eyes looked up to the Kings shoved to each side of him, sweat forming on his brow. "I-I..." He shot his eyes to Naruto, who blinked in confusion as Iruka's expressioned changed.
The face of regret and sorrow.
"It seems...that Sannin has written the contestants by name, and not by Kingdom," Iruka announced as shrills and yells of angry Kings erupted in the room. The guards inside the throneroom took their stance beside Iruka, protecting the man who was as innocent as sunrise as he looked back to the scroll. "Nontheless, the proceeding to announce the contestants will continue on."
Naruto stole a quick glance to the other side of the room and saw that only the two women in the room were calm and still in their spots. "Grandfather, is this legal for the Game?"
Jiraiya simply shrugged, sharing the same concern as Iruka. "The Sannin makes the rules, he just can't say his heir will be whoever. They have to fight for it."
"Please, collect yourselves, my Lords!" Iruka begged with a loud voice, eventually settling the roars down into a numbing silence as he bit back a worried sob. "For the contestants, Hiruzen wrote into his will that it will be two players for the Game... The first contestant is Haruno Sakura, Queen of the Haruno Kingdom, Khaleesi of the Hyuuga Kingdom."
Standing from her chair, the woman in white was stared at by every pair of eyes in the room. She showed no emotion as she walked across the tiled floor, her footsteps heard throughout the room as Naruto's heart pounded in his ears; she stood tall and blank; like a vunerable child lost from its mother. As she approached Iruka, she looked at him with a pleading look as she slowly turned herself around, being displayed to the Kings.
"And...Uzumaki Naruto..."
His heart stopped.
"Prince of the Uzumaki Kingdom, first son of King Minato and Lady Kushina..."
Naruto stood up, Jiraiya's whole body jerking to his grandson to try and stop him.
"Grandson of King Jiraiya of the Uzumaki Kingdom."
Naruto walked up, deaf to the shouts of his grandfather and blind to Sasuke holding him back with the help of the Sannin guards. The curses and swears that spilled from Jiraiya's lips was unheard by him as he approached Iruka, refusing to meet his eyes as he numbly turned himself around beside the pink-haired woman.
Guards behind Iruka marched up to the large mass of the covered object, and they ripped it open to reveal the Sannin Throne; made out of the hardest material on land and decorated with spears and skulls crowning it overhead, it displayed a grave and powerful light into the throneroom, remind everyone that whoever sat upon this throne ruled all until death.
Between the two was Hiruzen. Both youthful children standing side-by-side of a murdered King of Seven Kingdoms as the pyre was suddenly engulfed into flames, a natural thing that happened with the stone was presented to the light in the afternoon, thus making it a funrel stone. Naruto looked at the burning body, watching as Hiruzen slowly erased himself from existence, and the flower he held over his missing heart burning with him.
When Naruto looked at the woman, Sakura, was her name, and she was a Queen of two Kingdoms...they met eyes for the second time that day, and he could understand her silent words. It was written in her eyes as it reflected off of the exact same thing he was screaming in his thoughts as every King forced themselves onto their feet and bow to the players of the Game for Sannin.
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Why us?
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=xxx=
AUTHOR'S ENDING NOTE- This was too short for my liking, but I am content with it c: Yep Yep, Sasuke knows who the ladeh in white is~ Oh, yes he does! And Hinata? Yep! She's adorable, and we all know it. I hope you guys used the song for the funrel part, I just feel like it fits the situation between everyone.
Oh, and for a note, Sakura and Hinata were the only females in the room (minus the servants who prayed at the table before they shut the doors).
Please Review, Follow, Favorite or do nothing and have a wonderful day :D